And now the grand finale… drum roll, please… my final tip to achieve health and fitness success is to believe in yourself.

Sound hokey or cliche? Nope. The way you think about yourself, positively or negatively, dictates your success. According to scientists, we have about 60,000 thoughts a day (one thought per second). And what’s even more startling is that of those 60,000 thoughts, 95% are the same thoughts we had yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. Our minds are playing the same thoughts over and over, which wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the next statistic: for the average person, 80% of those thoughts are negative. If you do the math that means most of us have more than 45,000 negative thoughts each day!

So, tell me… if there’s something you don’t believe you can do related to health and fitness… why? Because you haven’t done it up until now? So? Because you’re too (overweight, underweight, old, young, busy, broke, etc.)? So? If it’s something you really want bad enough, you can find a wait to get it done. I really believe that and you should believe it, too.

I have a motto here at GirlPower Fitness: Give the best you have today. Let me dissect that sentence so I can tell you why it’s so meaningful to me. Give the best YOU have today. Not your friend. Not that girl in the front row at bootcamp. Not the image in your head. YOU. Give the best YOU have. There’s nothing to achieve by comparing yourself to anyone else. Next, give the best you have TODAY. Today may be a terrible day: you didn’t sleep well, you’re bloated, your boss yelled at you, whatever the case – you’re not feeling it today. Okay, fine. Who cares if you don’t beat your personal record today? At least you worked out and didn’t let that crappy day defeat you or define you. You gave the best you had on this one given day and tomorrow, you’ll give the best you have for that day. And, finally, give the BEST you have today. Listen, if you’re going to go through the trouble of getting your tennis shoes on, driving to the gym, choosing to use your time for exercise, then seriously, give your best. Your best today may suck. Again, it may be a bad day. But if you can walk away knowing you left all you had on that floor, then what else can you ask of yourself?

Exercise is such a mental game. We convince ourselves we hate it (wrong – you just haven’t found what you like). We tell ourselves we’re not as good as so-and-so (maybe you’re not. Who cares??? They’re probably thinking they’re not as good as the next so-and-so!). We talk ourselves down and say we can’t do it (yes, you can. What was that? Yes, you can.)

This world will shoot enough poisonous darts at you without you adding your own set to the quiver. You seriously have no idea how awesome you are. Believe in yourself and you can do anything you set your mind to.